The Real Story of Fake News
Fake news is an entirely false information (including photos, videos,…) that is published to confuse, deceive, and misinform people by fooling them. It means fabricated news, which have no legitimate nor accurate basis whatsoever. It’s not likely to find fake news in the dictionary though, as it’s quite a self-explanatory expression; it simply means news that is fake.
Even though nowadays fake news most often spread via social media, it also is broadcast via traditional media: newspapers, radios,… But with the invention of the internet, there are no longer any barriers: anyone can become a writer and a publisher without any regulation nor editorial code. The fake-news phenomenon was then inevitable, and some people got that; they used it at their advantage and made it a real business. The purpose is to bring down a person, a group, or even a company.
By using click baits titles (which make people want to know more about it, just by using scandalous words in the headlines), it increases readership, the amount of people sharing, and so the writer’s salary. It is so easy to spread a fake information on the internet: just by a click literally, you can share it to the rest of the world. Add this to plenty of other people doing it, and you get more and more people to read.
For advertising politics, it has become a real thing to use fake news to attract more potential voters. Even Facebook said, “As unprecedented numbers of people channel their political energy through this medium, it’s being used in unforeseen ways with social repercussions that were never anticipated.” Indeed, today with the new generations and technologies, social media has become the dominant source of information for people.
A lot of people don’t really get how social media and the internet work, which helps the rise of the fake news phenomenon. The struggle against fake news inevitably goes through a better knowledge and understanding of medias.
Fake news has become a problem for legitimate news publishers, media outlets and journalists, considered as trusted sources as they must follow certain rules. They need to solve this issue, as it afflicts their life. It has become a competition for their actual work. It also makes it even more difficult for new (or not) journalists to get their stories published. This is why they need to get trained to spot fake news, and learn to read things critically, especially online.
The number of fake news is unbelievable, and every day new ones appear everywhere, as an ongoing, regular thing. For instance, on June 3rd after the London Bridge attack, some people shared a so-called picture of the suspect right away on the internet. The suspect being a driver that had driven into pedestrians and then stabbed people. As it comes, it was actually the photo of an American comedian. What a joke.
Considering the on-going phenomenon of fake news, some authorities decided to actually do something about it and try to solve it, or at least make it a little bit better. The United Kingdom House of Commons carried on a parliamentary inquiry in January 2017. Prime Minister Theresa May claimed that the British government was organising a unit to undertake misinformation and fake news. In France as well, President Emmanuel Macron announced that for the new year, he would revise French media legislation to confront the rise of the fake news phenomenon, as it represents a threat to liberal democracies.
Channel 4 and the BBC got involved too. Google and Facebook planned to carry out new measures to counter fake news. To do so, they introduced “reporting and flagging tools”. They also claimed they’ll spot reliable sources. They may try to tackle this issue by introducing new measures, but it’s never fully going to work: people who spread fake news always find a way to hijack these measures and make sure the fake information spreads out.
We can not talk about fake news without mentioning the most opened, famous social media: Twitter. Although it is very useful and enjoyable to relax and be up to date, there’s a never-ending flow of tweets, and so an infinite number of fake information on there. And it’s getting worse every day… But ironically, that’s what made Twitter so prominent to begin with: disinformation is the other side of the coin.
So to avoid being fooled by fake news, here are a few tips to spot them:
- Read closer
- Check the headline (it’s key): are the words used a little bit too sensational?
- Try and look for this information on trustworthy sources. If not, is it a joke?
- Look at the dates: are they matching with the facts?
The websites listing fake news are numerous. But truth is, it’s actually up to people to figure out if news is real or fake. ”A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on”. (Winston Churchill).
